For Tomorrow Chap 1
by ichikox3
Summary: Ichiko and Naruto love one another but neither of them knows it. After spending time with Naruto, Ichiko's past starts flashing before her eyes. She doeesn't know how much longer it'll be until he finds out the truth about her and what happened back then.


The day was wearing on and on as the sun lowered down little by little into the horizon. A girl at the age of 15 or so was working out her body at the training grounds in the hidden leaf village, Konoha. She was well-built and had medium length grayish-whitish hair, with a slight hint of blue at the tips of her bangs covering her face. She was drenched with sweat from training all day and her clothing stuck to her skin like glue; showing off her curves. The way she would train will make anyone stronger if they had the will to keep up. Building and improving her skills, she kept on her pain-staking blows to the wooden pole before her. Soft grunts and low cries escaped her lips every so often, breaking the silence that surrounded her in the middle of the woods. After about another hour of training, the girl finally took a short break to catch her breath.

_"How long have I been doing this?"_

She stood from her battling stance and looked up to the sky, her hands coming up to rest on her head, with fingers linking together. The sky was turning an orangey-pink kind of color; setting the time for evening. She studied the color that bounced off of the soft, fluffy clouds; they were looked so close to her that if she reached up she would be able to touch them. The girl smirked at this beautiful for she hasn't seen something like this since she was just a child.

_"Childhood...bah._ _Nothing but a mere hallucination...," _she hated the thought of "childhood"; she hated everything about it. Nothing went right for her when she was a child, her parents were murdered, the one she loved the most abandoned her when she needed him the most, and her home was burnt down to the ground along with her parent's rotting bodies. All of her memories from her childhood consisted of death, blood, flames, and snow. When she was a child, she lived in the mountain ranges where it snowed at every year and the land was covered in a white blanket. It was a beautiful sight and she couldn't ever think of anything else like this, the scene was her dream come true until that night came.

_The darkness of the night surrounded everything around the little cabin that a small family lived in. It had snowed earlier that day and now everything was covered in frozen water, making the trees and ground glitter with sparkles from the snow. Smoke was coming out of the chimney and made the air smell of burnt wood. Inside, the family was getting ready to fall into a deep slumber. The two siblings were still wide awake and were passing time sketching the animals that would pass by outside their cabin. A wolf had passed by earlier and even though one of the siblings was very young, she was an artist at heart; she had sketched out the outlining of the wolf and was now making clean, jagged lines. While her older brother was finishing a drawing of a white rabbit nibbling on a small piece of wood. Her older brother had taught her how to draw and make the objects look all too real. It fascinated her and she took up the habit of drawing everything within sight. Soon she became a great artist like her brother, but even though her drawings were amazing she still believed that she was nowhere near as good as him.  
_  
_Their mother was in a rocking chair reading a book by the fire and their father was at the kitchen table carving a figure out of a piece of wood. The mother looked up from what she reading and looked at the clock that hung on the wall. It was almost midnight and they all needed their rest, so she gave a small smile and stood up. She closed her book and placed it on the little stool next to her. She walked towards the two siblings and touched both of them in between their shoulder blades very gently, letting them know that it was time to go to bed. Understanding what their mother was trying to tell them, they closed their sketching pads and headed down the hallway towards the bathroom; holding their pads besides them. Once they had brushed their teeth and washed their face, they headed to bed with tired eyes and yawns escaping their mouths. Changing from the clothes they had on earlier in the day, they slipped under the covers and laid next to each other. The family was only able to afford one bed for both of them to sleep in, but the siblings never really minded it, they were at peace knowing that one another was safe. Their mother and father came into the bedroom, kissed them both on the cheeks and said goodnight._

Her flashback was as torturous as ever, she hated remembering the past and her family. At the time they were her whole world but now they meant nothing to her, she was glad they were dead. She looked down from the sky and towards the woods, slowly bringing her arms down to her sides. She shook her head back and forth, while droplets of sweat fell from her and onto the ground. She brushed her bangs back from her face with her hand and started heading through the woods back to the village. She had slipped her hands into her pockets and looked up towards the branches. It was already dark out and if she didn't get back soon, then a certain someone would be looking for her; worrying his head-off. _"Maybe I should take my time back to the village...therefore making him panic all the more."_ She gave a little smirk but thought better of being late to the usual meeting place. She never liked having him wait for her; she's even told him to go on without her but he insisted to wait for her. She sighed to herself as she brought her left arm around her back and grabbed her right with it. _"To think that my best friend is none other than Uzumaki Naruto."_

Naruto was one of the very first people that she had met after moving to Konoha. She was alone at the one place where you're able to witness the past Hokages from before. She was studying the way they were carved into the mountain until Naruto decided to pay a visit there. He had spotted her and noticed that she was alone with no one around her. He also notices that this is the first time she's seen her for he practically knows everyone in the village. He approached her and asked who she was.  
"**Shirayuri Ichiko**", she was looking at him with irritable eyes. "**Who would you be?**" He looked closer at her and noticed that she was beautiful and wondered if she's realized that also. Naruto couldn't believe that she was alone and no one was accompanying her. "**Uzumaki Naurto**" Her gaze had turned softer and crossed her arms across her chest. It made him blush furiously. "**It's nice to meet you...Naruto.**" The next thing he knew, Naruto turned a bright red as she said his name and stumbled a bit from the heat. He turned around to hide his face from her for he didn't want her to see him like this. "**Um...yeah. Same here.**" He thought that he angered her since he had turned away from her but she did the most unexpected thing he could think of. She started to laugh softly; he peeked over his shoulder and looked at her. Naruto wasn't embarrassed anymore and started laughing with her while rubbing the back of his throat.

She shook her head in a way as if saying, "oh god." but she never imagined their friendship to become like this. Ichiko smiled to herself as she continued walking, she was more than half-way there and already she can smell and taste of food in the air. She loved the way it would fill her nostrils and make her mouth water. After some time with her thoughts, she finally came to the road that led to Konoha. Ichiko doesn't know why, but she hated going through those gates to get back into the village; it just always seemed to bother her in some way. Walking was something she enjoyed doing, especially when she was alone because when she's alone, there's no way that anyone can harm her loved ones. She was hated by some but loved by most; she's made enemies with many other ninjas in every single village except her own. The things that Ichiko have done were only for the best but her hated ones thought differently of it. She's killed their people and every so often, someone in their family; Ichiko didn't care whether or not they would live, she just wanted their blood. Blood fonds her and she takes great care to hide her secret that she is a blood sucker; not what everyone would call a vampire.

It had passed quiet some time when she had finally spotted the dim glow of the village. "_The time of day to have sex with someone new...oh man._" She shook her head at the thought and finally reached the gates that gave entrance to the village. She began to walk pass it, until a gate keeper stopped her. "**You can't enter, this is the hidden le-**" he stopped midsentence when he saw her head protector wrapped around her throat; a symbol that one has graduated the ninja academy and [depending on the color, their rank. She stared at him with an irritated glare and waited for him to let her pass."**Is there a problem here?**" She had gotten tired of standing there in front of him while he looked at her from top to bottom. "**No, I'm sorry to have interrupted you.**" Ichiko inclined her head towards him and walked passed him leaving him where he was standing. She took her hands out of pockets and wrapped them around her chest for it was getting cold and she was trying to stay warm. "_All of sudden it gets chilly around here, huh? Geez..._" She walked down the paths and turned corners until she finally reached her destination. She saw right away someone kicking at a rock and looking down with concern on their face. Ichiko smiled once she realized who it was. She approached him with her head high, her arms out in a showing-off-my-muscles-kind of way, and started walking in a "tough guy" way. He heard someone coming and looked to find Ichiko in that stance.

He started to smile and turned away from her so to hide his laughing. She stood in front of him and nudged him a bit."**What're you laughing at? Gotta problem with the way I walk?**" He couldn't face her for he was about to burst out laughing if he looked at her."**I-Ichiko, w-what are you d-doing?**" he managed to stumble out. "**What's it look like I'm doing? I'm being TOUGH!**" She started flexing and grunting as she tried showing off her muscles. He couldn't take it anymore and finally gave in; Naruto fell to the floor clutching his stomach while laughing his head off. Tears were forming at the edges of his eyes and eventually ran down his cheeks. She started posing in front of him and made noises while flexing but then she grew tired of doing the same thing over and over and burst out laughing, joining Naruto in the fun. Ichiko's hands leaned atop her knees as she tried to stay standing. They both continued to laugh hysterically; she finally gave in and fell to the floor, wrapping her arms tightly around her stomach trying not to accidently throw up. Both Ichiko and Naruto finally stopped laughing after a few seconds and calmed down a bit. Ichiko went back to her normal stance and wiped away the tears that were forming at the corner of her eyes. She looked over at Naruto and noticed that he was trying to control his breathing. Once he had his breathing under controlled, he looked up at her and saw the most beautiful person he could ever imagine meeting. He loved everything about her; her personality, the way that she walks with confidence and a bit of sass, her striking eyes killed him whenever she looked at him, and her smile was so beautiful that he didn't even know how to describe it. He loved her so much and yet he felt as though that she will never see him that way. He didn't know why a creature like her would bother wasting time with him; it didn't really make sense to him whatsoever.

This thought saddened him a bit as he knew they could never be together, for he was a demon that couldn't possibly be loved by anyone. Ichiko noticed right away when she looked at him that there was a deep sadness that she hadn't noticed before. "_I've never seen him look so sad before._" She placed her hand on his leg and rubbed it comfortingly with her thumb. He looked up at her with the same look on his face. "_oh.._." "**Naruto, what's wrong?**" she asked him with concern on written on her face, **"Is there something important that seems to be bothering you?**" When he asked her this he looked away from her and towards the ground, _"Great, now you're making her worry about you._" Naruto hated making her worry about him because he thought that he wasn't worth the concern. He quickly changed his face expression to his normal, goofy self and looked at her."**Ichiko there's nothing wrong, so please don't worry about me, alright?**" Not worry about him? That was the last thing she wanted to do. She wants him to be safe and happy no matter what, but when he becomes like this, how can she not worry about him? It didn't make any sense to her. She reached up and touched his face with her hand, gently. Her skin brought up against his sent a shiver down his spine, it felt so good when she touched him."**Not worry, you say. How can I not worry about the one I care and love for? You know that I'm always here in case you need someone to listen to you.**" She expected him to push her away but instead of doing that, he did the one thing she wouldn't expect him to do. He gave her a tight hug, almost as if he were protecting her from harm's way. She couldn't believe what he was doing, she wasn't able to move or breathe. Butterflies starting fluttering in her stomach and she started feeling a bit light headed. Everything she saw was becoming unclear to her as she once again remembered that torturous night.

_Their father was about to walk out of the room to his bedroom while their mother sat by them and stroked the older one's cheek to try and make him fall asleep quicker until they heard a gun fire in the night sky and dogs barking angrily. Their father ran to the curtains, pulled them back, and looked out the window to see what could possibly be going on. The look on his face, when he saw was out there, was filled with anger and concern. He turned around and ran out of the room, down the hallway to fetch his rifle. Their mother stayed with them in the room but she went to look out the window also to see what was happening. The two siblings sat up and the oldest one wrapped his arms around the girl; stroking her hair and rocking her gently, back and forth trying to comfort her as she whimpered softly. The mother ran back to the bed and stood over it as she touched both of their cheeks, __**"Stay here, the both of you. I'm going to find out what's going on and I'll be back. It's probably just hunters.**__" With that, she left the room closing the door behind her, leaving them in the empty room with nothing to comfort them but the dim glow of the candle that sat atop a little nightstand. Both siblings knew that she was most likely lying and just saying that so as to not cause a panic but they chose to believe her because they didn't want to think about the actual truth. The oldest one continued to rock her back and forth as she quieted down. They sat in silence but could hear everything that was going on outside; more guns were being fired and the dogs were coming closer. The little one couldn't stand it anymore and broke the silence, __**"What do you think is happening, brother?**__" He didn't answer for there were so many things going through his head at the moment."_What's going on? They aren't hunters, so what could they possibly want?_" The youngest one noticed that he was not paying any attention to her, so she shook him a bit to bring him back to "reality". "__**Brother...what's wrong?**__" He finally heard his sister and shook his head back and forth trying to regain consiouness,"__**I don't know, sister. But whatever might be going on can't be too bad.**__" He looked down at her and offered a small, warm smile, __**"You know that I'm always going to be here with you no matter what. Even if mother and father aren't with us anymore, I'll still love and care for you. I'll never abandon you, ever.**__" He hugged her tightly as she looked up at him and nodded telling him she understood even though she didn't. She didn't understand why he was saying "_Even if mother and father aren't with us anymore..._" but she didn't want to understand what he meant by that because she thought that everything was going to be alright in the end. All of a sudden, their mother came bursting into the room with blood stains on her dress. She closed and locked the door before she turned around to face them, with a blank expression on her face."__**Momma! What's going? What happened?**__" the oldest one asked. His mother didn't answer but instead walked slowly to the bed and sat down gently at the edge of it, with her hands in her lap and looking down at the floor. The siblings weren't able to see her face clearly because of the darkness that filled the room and the glow from the candle barely lit up anything."__**What's going on, momma!? What's happening out there!?**__" She still didn't respond to him, but started stroking her own hair as if she were a frightened child."__**Momma! Where's papa? Please answer me...**__" He was about to start crying out until his mother finally responded to his questions, __**"Your father is dead.**__" The boy looked at her as if she were insane and his mouth opened a bit. The youngest one looked at her from top to bottom and noticed right away the blood stains on her dress. She didn't want to cause any attention to herself so she didn't say anything about it to her brother until later on."__**D-dead? What do you mean? What did we do to have caused to this to happen?**__" The oldest one managed to let out. Their mother turned only her head to face them and tilted it back a bit; she showed a frightening smile to them, __**"The thing your holding was born...that's what we did.**__" She started to laugh hysterically a bit while the youngest one stared back at her own mother with no emotions showing on her face."__**She's the cause of all of this chaos happening. It's her fault...her fault...fault.**__"_

She turned her head back down to look at her hands on her lap, she started speaking with a shaking voice, _**"Don't you understand? They killed him right in front of me, when I left the room. His head was pulled back and they slit his throat...now his blood covers me...I will never forget the look on his face before he died...fear, guilt, and **_**regret**_" She lifted up her hand quickly and pointed her index finger at the girl; trembling a bit in the process, __**"HE REGRETTED HAVING THAT THING AS A CHILD! HE NEVER LOVED YOU, ICHIKO, NEVER HAS HE! You are nothing to us!**_** Nothing!**_" The youngest one didn't respond back to her action but continued to stare at her with a blank expression, pretending to care what she thought. Never has she ever loved her mother, he mother was nothing but a worthless piece of shit that her father used to relieve his erection. _She_ was the one that was nothing, the one that meant nothing to her. Her mother stood up while continuing to point at the girl, letting her rage show on her face, __**"Answer to what I'm telling you, you little piece of trash.**__" Her older brother had enough, __**"MOMMA! Stop it! She's **_**not **_**a demon and she's not worthless!**__" That's when their mother dropped her hand to side and looked at the boy, __**"Shut up, boy! This isn't your place to speak!**__" His sister couldn't take their mother's pathetic rant any longer, __**"It's not him that has no right to speak here...it's you, you old hag.**__" She stared at her mother with fury in her eyes and held on to her older brother as he treads in fear. The mother finally snapped and grabbed the child by the hair, pulled her to the floor, and smacked her face onto the floor, __**"DON'T YOU DARE TALK TO ME THAT WAY, YOU LITTLE BITCH!**__" the mother yelled at the girl. The oldest sibling cried out at her mother and started crying, __**"Momma! Let her go! She did nothing wrong! Why are you doing this?**__" That brought her attention back to him...that one little question made her forget about the demon she was pinning to the floor for just a second, __**"Why...why...why...WHY!? Why because everyone we know and loved have died because of this little piece of shit right here. I'm sorry that we kept this from you for so long but we didn't want you to be emotionally scarred, Caelo.**__"He looked at her as if he knew nothing of what she was talking about, __**"I don't understand where you're going with this.**__" She looked him in the eye and spoke with no emotions, __**"She murdered Night and everyone else in our family.**__"_

Night. When she said that name everything came into place, everything made sense as to why he had disappeared and never came back."Brother..._" Their older brother was dead because of what went on, on her 10 birthday. The one night where she truly discovered her inner powers and went out of control. Everyone in her family died that night, but not her parents for they were in another country visiting some old friends. Her brother, Caelo, was with them so they had missed her 10th birthday. Somehow, their parents were able to keep it a secret from him and came up with an excuse as to why his older brother, Night, was missing._

Caelo stumbled back a bit and stared at them in shock. He was speechless; he didn't know what to say to that. All he could feel was pain and the burning feeling of going numb. His mother yanked back the girl's hair so that they can be face to face as she spat on her face, _**"Tonight you will die with your rotten father, you little piece of shit. You are worthless and don't deserve to live. The deeds you have done will not be forgiven by **_**anyone!**_** I guarantee it!**__" The girl couldn't resist but whisper back in a fierce voice, __**"I already know that I'm worthless and that I should die, but I will never die at your hands. But I gotta let you in on something; before everyone in the family died...they thought you were more pathetic than I was.**__" She smiled, __**"Always sucking on daddies cock while he forces you on all fours. Who's the bitch now?**__" Her mother stuck her across the head as she let out her rage on her and all the girl could do was cry out,"__**Caelo! Help me! Stop momma!**__" Before he realized what he was doing, Caelo jumped off that bed, grabbed his mother's arm, and dug his teeth into her flesh, tasting blood. The mother yelped as she let go of the girl and stumbled back a bit. He grabbed his sister by the hand and pulled her to their escape route they had underneath the house. He removed the loose board and pushed her in, jumping in after her. The girl looked back one last time before he placed the board back in place and she realized that the bedroom started catching on fire. The candle had tipped over when she accidently bumped into the night stand. The last thing she remembered seeing was her mother staring at her with a murderous look on her face and the bedroom door bursting open; men ran inside with guns in their hands. She would never forget that night when she heard her own mother get shot._

Ichiko came back to "reality" and realized that Naruto was still holding her. She automatically wrapped her arms around him, holding him tightly,"**Naruto...**" He didn't respond but finally released her even though she wished it wasn't ending so soon. He looked towards the ground and started rubbing the back of his neck nervously."**Ichiko...you won't ever treat me any differently, will you?**" She looked at him trying to figure out what could possibly be going on through his head right now, **"Of course not. I won't ever treat you differently, you know that.**" He stopped rubbing the back of his throat and dropped his hand onto his lap; he looked back into her eyes but this time there was hope in his eyes. "_What's going on with him?_" He placed his hand on top of hers and spoke, **"I know, Ichiko. I was just thinking about things, that's all.**" He took his hand away from hers and stood slowly up, offering his hand to her, **"And you know that I'm always going to be here with you no matter what also. Even if everyone has rejected you, I'll still love and care for you. I'll never abandon you, ever.**" She had butterflies in her stomach and a frightened look on her face as he said those words."_He practically repeated those exact words brother had told me..._" She shook the feeling off and accepted his hand. He pulled her up so quickly that she fell onto him a bit; her hand was resting on his chest,"**S-sorry.**" She told automatically replied without looking at him. Naruto inclined his head towards her and grabbed her other hand with his free hand, **"Well, shall I take you home, love?**" She nodded as he gently pulled her to start walking. They both walked to her home holding hands throughout the quiet streets. All the way home, they talked endlessly until they had reached her home. He gave her a hug and she thanked him but before he left he kissed her on the cheek quickly and ran off towards his apartment while waving back at her and smiling. Ichiko stood there as she stared towards the direction he ran off in; she barely noticed that she was gently touching the spot where he had kissed her and smiled in an embarrassed way, "**Aye, Naruto...you dork.**" She spoke out to no one in particular and noticed how beautiful the stars had looked that night; she enjoyed nights like these...too bad they don't come every night. She walked to her door, unlocked it, and went inside. Everything was the same as she left it earlier that morning. Despite how late it was, she took a shower and read for a bit. She soon got exhausted and went to bed where she quickly fell into a deep sleep...but her dream wasn't as peaceful as she had hoped it would be.

_They had left the house and were running as fast as they could through the woods. After a few minutes, they grew tired and stopped in the middle of the woods. Once they found a safe spot to stop at, he dropped her hand immediately and leaned against a tree, letting his head hit the trunk of the tree softly. He closed his eyes as he thought everything through of what happened that night. Small things were flashing past his eyes as he saw the horror that went on just a couple of minutes ago; now he definitely knew he would never be the same person again, never will he look at his sister the same way again...that is, if he even stayed with her. She was bent over and had her hands leaning against her knees to support her up a bit so that she wouldn't fall over."_That's what killed Night? Her...it couldn't be possible, there's no way she could be a demon._" He stared at her long and hard then finally pushed himself off of the tree and stood in front of her; he was going to be on guard from here on out. She noticed that his mood and stance had changed. The girl looked up from the ground and towards her older brother and realized that he was on guard and looked like he was going to kill someone if they got near him. She stopped breathing hard and stood from how she was; facing her brother. They stood a few feet away from each other and stared at one another with a look of anger. The girl was the one who broke the silence first,"__**What's going through your mind, brother?**__" He didn't answer her but continued to stare in anger; she smiled evily and lifted her hands up in a I-don't-care kind of way,"__**What? You think I'm not the demon that mommma was talking about earlier before she got shot, that I'm not the one who muredered the whole entire family and our brother?**__" She slowly brought her hands to her sides and slid one of them into her back pocket as she leaned forward a bit, letting her hair cover her eyes,"__**Let me in you on something...I am the demon that did all those deeds, I am the one that murdered your precious brother you call by Night. I'm the eight tailed demon that has been rejected by all, the one that momma has told you so many stories about.**__" She stood up and tilted her head back a bit; having her thumb point towards her chest,"__**I'm the angel of death.**__" His expression changed dramatically as he couldn't even look at her anymore, he couldn't believe that this thing was her true self, he didn't want to believe it...and yet, no matter how hard he tried to not think about it, it would always come back into his head. This night would haunt him for the rest of his life. Who knew that something sweet and "innocent" was nothing but a fucking lie. The more he thought about it the more he grew angry and something he couldn't name started dwellling up inside of him,"__**What? Can't say anything to me anymore, older brother? Pathetic. Do you want to know the reason why I let you and the parents live?**__" He didn't give any response to her questions,"__**When you came back from your trip, I would've killed you and the parents on the spot...but I decided against it. I thought what would be the point? You are the most important person in my life and I wouldn't change you for anyone. The parents were just there for show, I never gave a shit if either of them lived or died...I just wanted you to be there with me, no matter what, brother.**__" "__**Don't you dare call me that...**__" He finally responded to her and said the one thing she never wanted to hear him say,"__**Call you what? Brother? Is that it?**__" He couldn't take her anymore and threw himself onto her, making them both go a bit of a distance and landed on the snow. He pinned her to the ground and was surprised to find that she wasn't struggling. Caelo finally firgured out this feeling that was dwelling within. Hatred. He thought he would never feel this towards her but not everything is what we want it to be. Ichiko looked up at him with no emotions in her eyes or face,"__**I know you hate me now, so if you're going to kill me then do it now. Do it now so that I could be rid of this hell you call life. I hate living more than anything...**__" He wanted to kill her so badly for the things she has done and release her from her sufferring but he wasn't able to bring himself to do it. Instead he looked away from her and sat up, letting her free. She got up right away and backed up a few steps; there was irritation and confusion in her eyes as to why he hadn't killed her right there and then. All he did was get up slowly and turned away from her towards the woods,"__**Get out of here. If you are what you say you are then we will meet again one day to end this, but for now you no longer have the honor or the right to be called my sister, demon. You are nothing to me anymore.**__" He decided what he was going to do and said it her also. But she, on the other hand, couldn't accept it and went against it,"__**So that's it? You're just going to tell me I'm not your sister anymore and abandon me? And you said you'd always be there for me no matter even if mother and father wasn't with us anymore because you 'love and care' about me. Bullshit. You hypocritical-**__" "__**I said meant that to be for my sister. I would never abandon her...but you on the other hand are a different story.**__" He told her cutting her off mid-sentence. With that being said, he started walking into the forest; deeper and deeper into the darkened woods that are covered by the cool night sky. She stayed there thinking what he said through and tears began to form at the corners of her eyes,"_I will never abandon you my ass...I knew it, you never loved me in any way...you're just like everyone else who beats me to a bloody pulp..._" Finally, she began to cry quietly...letting the tears stain her cheeks as they trailed down them. She heard gun shots and dogs barking not too far from her and as she turned around to view what was happening, she spotted smoke in the air from where her home once was. She didn't know why but she started walking towards the scene with no fear or regret of what she was about to do. The snow was cold under her bare feet but she didn't seem to notice it for her feet had already grown numb; everything inside of her has grown numb and she no longer is able to feel pain. The girl finally reached the house and caught the first glimpse of the fire that lit the house up. The flames were dancing in the dark night and shedding flames everywhere around the area. She lifted her arms up and walked towards it just so she could be a couple of steps away from it. The heat was bouncing off of it and warming her up; trying to regain the feeling of pain. But before she was able to fully feel again, the hunters were a few feet next to her, pointing guns and getting ready to shoot. She turned her head to look at them and sighed a breath of relief; she was finally going to die. Ichiko smiled at the thought of falling into eternal sleep and never waking up from it again. Bam. The first gun shot and sent a bullet into her side; she stumbled but stayed standing. They shot her again but this time, it her in the leg and then another shot; it hit her side again and this time she couldn't take the pain so she fell over. She landed in the snow while her own blood was seeping out around her from the bullet wounds she recieved. Her eyes were open and her mouth was partly open; trying to breathe and stay alive. She layed motionless in the snow as the hunters approached her to see if she was still alive. They nudged her with the front of their foot; they knew she wasn't dead but they didn't shoot her again to finish the job. Instead they decided to leave her there so she could bleed to death, they figured that she wouldn't be able to get any help because they were in the middle of nowhere. No one would find her here in time to save her. Before the hunters turned around to leave, they looked at the demon that was feared by and all and kicked her in the ribs making her release a painful rush of air. They all started laughing then turned to walk away and threw back their guns on their shoulders. She was clenching her teeth to deal with the pain, her eyes were half opened as she stared at them walk away from her. The glow of the flames was covering her and she turned a bit to witness the beautiful scene before she died. After some time, her vision started getting blurry and her breathing became raspy from struggling to keep breathing. She knew that she would be better off dead but there was something inside of her that wouldn't let her die and that kept on going._

Out of nowhere, she started remembering everything that went on in her "childhood." Her memories were passing by her eyes in just seconds and she was reliving it all. The first time she got a big injury, that time her mother hit her for breaking a vase, and the only time she allowed Night to comfort her. She hated having memories and yet some part of her was happy she was dieing with something. By now her breathing grew slower and she wasn't able to focus on anything."Am I finally going to die? Hopefully..._" she thought while smirking. Realizing that this was the end, she closed her eyes slowly and everything went black._

It was morning, the sun was shining through the clouds and shining into the windows filling the room with warmth. There was a soft murmuring of voices in the next room, the soft beating of music came out of a radio near by the bed Ichiko was laying in. Her eyes started to blink her eyes open, trying to regain consiousness. Her chest rised up and down with her breathing; it hurt to take in a breath. She cringed amd moaned at the pain but ignored it. Her eyes were open by now and she looked around where she was,"Where...the hell am I?_" She turned her head slowly but with every movement she made there was little stings of pain reminding her of what happened last night. "_I'm still alive?_" She decided to sit up but didn't really want to because she knew that it would hurt like hell. Slowly gathering her strength that she had left, she sat up and rested her hands on her lap while she stared down at them. "__**Why? How can I still be alive? I'm sure that I was going to die...**__" She said out loud to no one in particular. Thinking that no one was with her, her hands started trembling with rage and she slowly brought her hands up to her face so to cover it."__**Why didn't I die? WHY DID I LIVE?!**__" She cried out; tears started streaming down her face while she shook uncontrolably. "__**Because you were meant to be alive.**__" Startled, she looked up to who had spoken to her and saw a young boy that looked around her age. She said nothing as she glared at the boy. He walked towards her so that he was a few steps away from the bed, with his hands in his pockets. He had on jeans and a long sleeve gray thermo that had the design of a teddy bear with its head ripped off but the head was nowhere around the body. She noticed that he had the sound village sign on his sleeve. She continued to stay silent as he also continued to look at her,"__**What? Suddenly can't talk?**__" He shook his head slightly and a smirk formed on his face,"__**And earlier you were crying out in your sleep. Hah, yah know, when I found you, you were practically dead but I still brought you here and tended all your wounds. Geez, if I hadn't found you at that time, you would've died ou-**__" "__**Why did you save?! Why did you let me live?!**__" He looked at her in disbelief when she said that to him. After he went out of his way to save her, she's acting like this. Anger filled her as she stared at him with a threatening look. He brought his hand behind his head and started rubbing his throat,"__**You really wanted to die out there.**__" She said nothing to his comment but brought her head down to look at her hands that were still on her lap. Suddnly, the anger she felt went away; she should've felt pain or sadness but she didn't...all of her feelings went away and she eventually couldn't feel anything. "__**It would've been for the best. Everyone wanted to see me dead...even my own mother who gave me life. I wasn't meant to be in this world.**__" He dropped his hand to his side and sighed softly as he stood there. He didn't know exacly what to tell her for he didn't know how to comfort anyone in general. The boy knew that she was in a lot of pain and needed someone to cheer her up but he didn't know what to do. The only thing he could think of was to walk to the bed and gently pat her head. Her eyes widened in confusion as she tried to understand why he was doing this to her.His eyes were partly closed as he looked down at her with pity. "__**You're one tough ass kid...when I tripped over your "dead" body I was surprised you were still breathing. It was a pain in the ass just to get all those bullets out of you, but you'll be okay for now.**__" He took his hand off of her head and slipped it into his pocket. The boy started walking to the door, opened it, and stopped. He turned his head slightly and she was able to see a small smile on his face."__**If you're hungr, just come out and tell me. I'll prepare you something in no time. By the way, the name's Gregeory.**__" "__**Ichiko**__" "__**That's a beautiful name...Ichiko.**__" With that he walked out of the room and closed the door behing him, leaving her sitting ont he bed as she stared at the door with a threatening look. Before he had left, she noticed the missing bear's head on the back of his thermo with white blood pouring out of it,"_So that's where the head went._"_

For the rest of the day, she stayed in bed while staring at the ceiling and thinking about what went on the night before. She planned to leave when night had tooken over the land; she had to get out of that place, no matter what. She didn't belong there, she didn't belong anywhere. But she didn't care, she didn't need anyone. When night finally fell and consumed day, she crept out of bed and headed to the window, but before she reached the window, something on the little table besides her bed caught her eye. She grabbed it and brought it closer to her face to see what it was. The object was a golden lockett with an engraving on the back of it."Our love will never end, baby._" She snorted a bit in her throat as she read this,"_There's no such thing as love._" Ichiko opened the lockett to find a picture of a beautiful lady giving a warm smile to the camera. On the other side of it was another picture but of a man that looked to be in his mid-twenties. He was giving a thumbs-up and smiling. "_Must've been his parents...I wonder where they are now._" She stood there a moment more before closing the lockett and gently placing it back on the table. She went to the window, opened it, and climbed outside. She pulled the curtains together before closing the window. It was cold and snowing; she couldn't feel the cold underneath her feet as she beagn to walk. She had no regrets, no more pain, sadness, or anger left inside her. She left it all behind with each step she took to her new journey that she started when she stepped out of that house. She never turned back, always facing forward no matter what and going on.  
_  
The next morning, she woke up with an ache on her side. She had slept in a weird position that whole entire night. She couldn't believe that she was just now dreaming about that. "_God...that was new for once._" She stretched and yawned before going to the bathroom. Ichiko washed up and got dressed; she headed to the kitchen and made herself breakfast. After she was done eating, she locked up her place and started heading to the Hokage's office. It was her duty to report in for any missions that had to be done; every now and then she would get lucky and not have to do any, but that was rare. On her way over there, she payed attention to her surroundings and the people that walked by her. It was another beautiful day but something seemed different about today then most. Something was going to happen and she knew it. Hopefully something that would'nt make her day go bad. "_That would be exciting._" She thought sarcastically to herself. After a couple of minutes she finally had reached her destination and walked down the hall to the office. But before she knocked to let them know she was coming in, she heard Naruto's voice speaking loudly,"_Naruto?_" There were other voices too so she decided to try and listen closely to see what they were talking about. She wasn't able to catch it all but it was something about Naruto leaving for training...but with who? She didn't get to find out the answer to her question for the door had suddenly opened and she fell inside; she was leaning against the door while trying to listen in. She rubbed the side that she landed on and cursed under her breath."**Ichiko?**" She instanly knew whos voice that was and who's feet she almost landed on. Ichiko immediately stopped rubbing her pain and looked up to see Naruto looking down at her with a little bit of concern on his face. Not only dide she see him standing there but she also saw Kakashi standing next to him. She started to panic as she tried coming up with an excuse as to why she was there but decided to just deal with it. "**What are you doing here?**" he asked her nervously. "**Um...to see if there are any missions that need tending to.**" she responded back to him. "**Oh yeah, right. Uh, can I talk to you for a second?**" She nodded while he helped her up and took her out of the building. She noticed that he was taking her to the cherry blossom fields; one of their favorite places to go together. They were both quiet the whole entire time and she noticed that something was bothering him greatly. She wanted to ask what was wrong but wasn't able to. They had finally reached the fields when he walked ahead a little bit and stopped. She stopped a few steps away from him while facing his back. His hands were formed into fists and he was looking down at the ground. She was about to break the silence until he spoke out first,"**I'm going to be leaving so I can train with Jiraiya. I don't know for how long and I don't know where but I want you to know that no one forced me into doing this. I chose this off of my own free will.**" She couldn't believe what he was telling her and wanted to argue with him to change his mind but she knew that this is what he decided to do. Once he made a decision there was no way he would change his mind. He turned around to face her "**I chose to do this because I want to become stronger and a better shinobi. I want to try and get people to respect me. I don't want to leave you here but I have to.**" He looked at her with guilt in his eyes. She couldn't stand that look, especially when he was the one doing it. She cocked her head to the side a bit and offered a small smile, "**Don't look so guilty, I completely understand what you've decided to do. This is your way of the shinobi and I support you the whole entire way. Just know that I'll always be here for you no matter what. I'm really proud of you, Naruto and I'm happy to know that you're doing something for a purpose. Just remember to write me a letter or two, ok?**" She winked at him and laughed a bit. Before he realized what he was doing, he pulled her into a tight hug and held her there. God, how he loved this girl. He didn't know what he'd do without her, honestly. She was his life practically and would do anything for her. He loved her so much that it hurt just to think about it. He's going to miss everything about her when he's gone. The burning sensation when both of their bodies are brought up against each other feels so good; that's what he's going to miss the most. But he knew that no matter what, she would understand the decisions he would make. She would never judge it and usually never criticize them.

She wrapped her arms around him and squeezed lightly while smiling. Ichiko rested her head on his shoulder as her eyes started gettinh watery. "**I love you, Naruto.**" Those words stunned him for a moment before he realized that she meant as a friend. Nothing more. "**I love you too, Ichiko.**" "**I'm going to miss you a lot.**" "**Yeah, me too. Now come on, I've got to go home and pack a few things then I have to head off tomorrow morning. We'll get something to eat later.**" "**Your treat?**" She asked inoccently. He stared at her with irritation. She backed off immediately,"**Ok, ok. We'll split it.**" He sighed and released her before grabbing her hand and pulling her. Smiling the whole entire time. They went over to his place to pack but that took the whole entire day to do since they both would constantly get distracted by the littlist of things. Later on that evening, they went to go get something to eat and Naruto dropped her off at her home before giving each other a hug good night. That night Ichiko dreamnt of nothing...nothing but darkness. The next morning she did her usual routine but skipped breakfast because she didn't want to be late to meeting with Naruto at the gate. She ran the whole way there and once she arrived she spotted Naruto's spikey head instantly. She stopped in front of him and caught her breath. He was smiling at her and laughing a bit. Soon they both started laughing for no reason. "**Well, I guess this is it.**" She looked at him with sad, gloomy eyes,"**Yeah...**" She looked away from him. He grabbed her chin with his hand and tilted it up so to be face to face. "**What's with that look?You know I'm going to be back. Cheer up.**" He started smiling his big, goofy grin of his. She loved his smile and started turning red a bit. She nodded her head as he let go of her chin and dropped his pack. He pulled her into another hug and this time, he didn't let go so soon. She wrapped her arms around him and they stayed like that for what seems like eternity. Jiraiya was watching them as lhe eaned against the big wooden gate. "_Young love..._" He sighed and shook his head while remembering all of his memories from before. They both finally let go of each other. He bent over to grab his pack and pulled it on, ready to go. Before he turned to go, Ichiko made him stay facing her, reached up, and gave him a kiss on the cheek. He gave no response to what she did but instead just stared at her in shock. "**Wha-?**" She started to laugh and turned him around to face Jiraiya, "**Don't ask just go. Go, go! Before I force you to stay here.**" She was pushing him gently and he soon got the hint to start walking. Both him and Jiraiya started walking and when they were outside of the gate Naruto turned around and was walking backwards. He looked at her, smiled, and waved his hand in the air,"**Bye! I'll see you soon!**" She giggled and waved back to him, "**I hope you will!...Good-bye!**" He continued to wave at her for a little while more then turned back around, walking straight ahead. She stopped waving and brought her hand down to her chest as she stared at them walking off. She knew she was going to see him again but hated the fact that he wasn't going to be around to bug her. Him walking away reminded her of that night she escaped death. The night she discovered the lockett and read what was on it, the one night she almost died if it hadn't been for Gregory. But now, she didn't want to remember that at the moment, all she wanted to do was cherish the memories she's made and the people around. This life is something that she thought she would never get again. "**Our love will never end, baby.**"


End file.
